Insurance broker “accidentally” signed us up for a policy

[oohlalaw]

State is California where many HOA policies are not being renewed due to fire coverage. I spoke with a few insurance agents last week, and they supplied quotes. We have not signed any documents for homeowners insurance yet, but yesterday when I mentioned to one of the brokers that a photographer from the company he quoted had come by to take photos of the property, he said he was very surprised, then said, Oops, I made a mistake. I clicked on “buy” for the policy I sent you for review. He then said that he now needs us to sign a letter to be removed from the policy. This sounds unusual, and we are hesitant to sign a document canceling a policy since we never signed up for it. Or are we wrong and are we required to sign a document to cancel a policy we never signed up for, in order to avoid problems/complications with the company? It’s a large company, but I don’t know if it’s okay to mention the name, especially since it’s the broker and not the company that caused the issue.

We think the broker is new at the job. When we suggested we stop by to meet him last week, he didn’t want us to, said he preferred to do things by email. This seemed odd.

He said when he clicked on a Buy button for the policy, he thought the website would ask him to confirm by clicking Buy again, but the transaction went through with one click. He said he tried to call the company about it on Monday (President's Day) and claims they were closed on President’s Day. We wonder why he didn’t call them on one of the next four days when they were open this week.

 

[Taxing Matters]

You might want to sign the document canceling the policy as long as the document does not contain anything in it that is objectionable. Whether the document the agent wants you to sign is objectionable or not depends entirely on what it says and of course I've not read it. If you are not comfortable with what it says, don't sign it. You always have the option to have it reviewed by an attorney before signing it. Otherwise, you might write to the agent with a copy to the insurer stating that you never agreed to the policy and that as the agent has confirmed he entered the buy in error the insurance company needs to retract any policy it issued.

 

[adjusterjack]

are we required to sign a document to cancel a policy we never signed up for

Possibly, but for me to be sure, it would help to know what the starting date of the new policy was and whether you have a policy elsewhere that is in effect.

When we suggested we stop by to meet him last week, he didn’t want us to, said he preferred to do things by email. This seemed odd.

Odd to me, too. You could have just gone to his office. If he wasn't there, talked to his boss, if he has one.

 

[oohlalaw]

Possibly, but for me to be sure, it would help to know what the starting date of the new policy was and whether you have a policy elsewhere that is in effect.

Odd to me, too. You could have just gone to his office. If he wasn't there, talked to his boss, if he has one.

Our current policy is in effect and will expire on March 11; the company is no longer offering HOA insurance with fire coverage in our area and sent a Notice of Nonrenewal. When we first spoke to the broker in question, he said as it was more than 2 weeks until March 11th, it was too early to issue a policy, but he sent a pdf summarizing the terms. He said that if we wanted to sign up, he would need to change the effective date. Apparently he changed the date without asking or telling us, and this must have signed us up. We have not received anything in the mail and have not seen a policy document.

We think the broker works on his own. We are in a small town and drive past his office anytime we go into town.

 

[adjusterjack]

When you cancel a new policy prior to its effective date it's called a "flat cancellation" and you aren't charged for it. Since you have to ask for the cancellation, it's required for the insured to sign the request. After all, if you did want the policy you wouldn't want anybody else to cancel it.

If you have a new policy lined up elsewhere for March 11, go ahead and request the cancellation of the broker's policy.

If you can't get fire coverage anywhere else and the broker's policy includes it, you might want to consider keeping it.

At any rate, I strongly suggest you go to that broker's office and meet with him, make sure you all understand what's going on. Get a copy of anything you sign, even if you have to photograph it with your camera phone. If you decide to keep the new policy, get a written "binder" showing the policy details.

 

[oohlalaw]

When you cancel a new policy prior to its effective date it's called a "flat cancellation" and you aren't charged for it. Since you have to ask for the cancellation, it's required for the insured to sign the request. After all, if you did want the policy you wouldn't want anybody else to cancel it.

If you have a new policy lined up elsewhere for March 11, go ahead and request the cancellation of the broker's policy.

If you can't get fire coverage anywhere else and the broker's policy includes it, you might want to consider keeping it.

At any rate, I strongly suggest you go to that broker's office and meet with him, make sure you all understand what's going on. Get a copy of anything you sign, even if you have to photograph it with your camera phone. If you decide to keep the new policy, get a written "binder" showing the policy details.

We have received similar/acceptable quotes from a few other companies, plus have lost confidence in the broker in question so will not sign up with him. We will stop by his office this week to sort things out.

Thanks for the input!

 

[oohlalaw]

You might want to sign the document canceling the policy as long as the document does not contain anything in it that is objectionable. Whether the document the agent wants you to sign is objectionable or not depends entirely on what it says and of course I've not read it. If you are not comfortable with what it says, don't sign it. You always have the option to have it reviewed by an attorney before signing it. Otherwise, you might write to the agent with a copy to the insurer stating that you never agreed to the policy and that as the agent has confirmed he entered the buy in error the insurance company needs to retract any policy it issued.

We'll try to catch the broker at his office this week to sort things out. Thanks for your helpful comments!